Reasons to choose O2

30 day happiness guarantee, double the length of many mobile suppliers, allowing you to try mobile broadband in all the locations you'll need it without worrying about the cost of the dongle or pocket hotspot

No long contracts, either pay as you go or opt for a one month rolling contract - only pay for your mobile broadband when you're actually using it

Ideal for keeping online when out and about or to cover outages in home broadband services

Free WiFi access in thousands of O2 WiFi hotspots based at numerous common high street restaurants and shops

O2 Priority perks like advanced access to tickets for many events, unique Priority Moments experiences, music downloads and the Priority Sports app

Possible downsides

4G still in the process of being rolled out, currently only available to less than 50% of the population - still the second largest 4G network

Features at a glance

Up to 40Mb on 4G, actual speeds achieved depends on signal strength and how many people are using the service in your area, up to 7.2Mb download speeds on 3G

Pay monthly or pay as you go

Up to 20GB usage

Free connection on some deals

24 hour UK based technical support by phone or online

McAfee Internet Security

Free tablets with some deals

30 Day Happiness Guarantee - If O2 mobile broadband turns out to not be right for you, return your hardware in the first 30 days and only pay for the data you use

If you use all of your allowance before the month is over, you can top-up your account. 3G packages can be topped up with 200MB for £2, 1GB for £10 or 2GB for £13. 4G packages can be topped up with 1GB for £10 or 5GB for £30.

Customer Reviews

Sometimes the best way to get a feel for a broadband provider is to read what those who are already customers think of the service they're receiving. Below are all the reviews we've received for O2 Mobile.

Awful service on payg. Ran out at 7pm. Kept trying to buy more time, it’s now 10.30pm and still ant get the online system to work. Keeps dropping out on the final page. This is becoming a regular problem most times I buy more access. And trying to get sorted by phone....useless waste of time and money. Pathetic service. Telling everyone I know how bad this company is and advising them to go elsewhere which I am on the verge of doing myself. In a nutshell: unreliable shabby service and no effective customer support. If you haven’t got anO2 telephonically dongle DONT BUY ONE, STEER CLEAR

Pete Sword

Birmingham

O2 Mobile

2018-09-30

Very low speed
Charging me £17 Extra
Cheater staff everybody advise you with wrong information
It is very shameful that O2 not refunded my extra charge despite make compliant with them
100% Not recommended
No need to struggle yourself with Capped mobile broadband.
The Battery died within very soon and when visited the store they said we will take it for service and gave me only the SIM and I wait for approximately 3 weeks to receive replaced device !! This mean I paid for three weeks without able to use the device !!
Have No sense !

Satisfaction

1 star

Customer Service

1 star

Speed

1 star

Reliability

1 star

Blend

Nottingham

O2 Mobile

2017-12-23

Speeds tested via broadband.co.uk in a number of urban situations where there is a strong 3G phone signal and I can actually see the mast from my office and my home. I have O2 pay monthly with a huawei E169 capable of 7.2 Megs and the O2 Connection Manager indicates this is available. I never get higher than 550 actually tonight for the first time in 6 months since start of contract a stunning 720 Kbps! I think this is damn poor and only fit for small emails or very slow browsing. I would love to know what others get. I have sent two emails seeking advice from the O2 support team, neither of which have been acknowledged.

Reliability

4 stars

John

Wildman

O2 Mobile

2010-01-24

Test speed very slow, unable to surf internet without delays some sites won't download and internet messenger won't work well.

Satisfaction

1 star

Speed

1 star

Reliability

1 star

Sutton

Leeds

O2 Mobile

2010-01-09

o2 have some good deals avaliable, but their speed and reliability are ridiculous. the network "goes down" at least once a month where only edge (equiv to less 512kbs) can be accessed. i have made numorous complaints to o2, they once reduced my bill by £20. i would not recommend o2 mobile broadband to anyone.

December 2015 saw average download speeds for fixed line providers recorded by users of our broadband speed test remain stable in comparison to the results from November, coming in at 20.56Mb. Average upload speeds saw a 0.15Mb drop to 3.68Mb.

Of the big 5 home broadband providers, Virgin Media remained in first place but their average download speeds appear to have levelled out since rolling out their 200Mb service, remaining stable at 46.57Mb, with upload speeds at 5.66Mb. BT Broadband retain second place with average download and upload speeds steady at 17.58Mb and 4.42Mb respectively. TalkTalk move up to third place, with download speeds stable at 12.8Mb and upload speeds dropping by 0.21Mb to 1.86Mb. Plusnet drop into fourth place, dropping by 0.59Mb to 12.6Mb for average download speeds with a 0.39Mb decrease to 2.85Mb for average upload speeds. Finally, Sky remain in fifth place with a 1.1Mb fall in download speeds to 10.92Mb, while their upload speeds decreased by 0.41Mb to 2.47Mb.

Results from users testing with mobile-enabled devices including phones and tablets suggests that mobile broadband speeds saw an overall rise since November. Taking mobile broadband separately from home broadband, EE Mobile retain first place, with download speeds increasing by 1.1Mb to 17.55Mb and upload speeds holding at 3.87Mb. Vodafone are in second place, seeing download speeds fall slightly by 0.19Mb to 13.76Mb and upload speeds steady at 2.82Mb. O2 are in third place with download speeds at 11.78Mb - a respectable 1.4Mb increase over last month - and upload speeds at 2.53Mb. Three are still in fourth place, with average download speeds of 9.84Mb and upload speeds of 2.56Mb.

When mobile broadband and home broadband average speeds compete on the same table, 4GEE is head-to-head with BT's second place with a difference of only 0.03Mb. 4GEE and Vodafone mobile broadband sit in overall 3rd and 4th places beating all home broadband providers' averages bar Virgin Media and BT. This suggests that 4G broadband may have higher uptake levels relative to 3G compared to uptake of the fastest possible fibre broadband products relative to cheaper options.

This month's supplementary broadband providers table (see page 4 of the report) found Post Office Broadband had the UK's slowest broadband speed overall with only 2.55Mb average downloads and only 0.33Mb average uploads. Hyperoptic was fastest overall with 102.1Mb average downloads and 92.13Mb uploads.

October 2015 saw average download speeds for fixed line providers recorded by users of our broadband speed test rise by 2.76Mb in comparison to the results from September, coming in at 21.88Mb. Average upload speeds saw a 0.4Mb increase to 4.65Mb.

Virgin Media's average download speeds rose by 6.31Mb to 48.66Mb, with upload speeds also improving to 6.64Mb. Virgin have recently begun rolling out their 200Mb service for new and existing customers, which accounts for the significant increase in download speeds.

BT Broadband retain second place with average download speeds increasing by 1.32Mb to 18.84Mb, and upload speeds increasing by 0.45Mb to 5.59Mb. Plusnet hold third place, remaining stable at 15.09Mb for average download speeds with only a 0.33Mb decrease to 4.25Mb for average upload speeds. TalkTalk stay in fourth place, with download speeds at 12.89Mb and upload speeds at 2.32Mb. Finally, Sky are in fifth place with a 0.87Mb rise in download speeds, putting them at 12.76Mb, while their upload speeds increased by 0.38Mb to 3.64Mb.

With the recent improvements to our speed test, we're now able to record results from mobile users on their phones and tablets. EE Mobile are in first place, with download speeds averaging at 17.81Mb and upload speeds at 5.36Mb. Vodafone are in second place, with download speeds at 12.95Mb and upload speeds at 3.79Mb. O2 are in third place with download and upload speeds at 11.03Mb and 3.81Mb respectively. This leaves Three in fourth place, with average download speeds of 9.03Mb and upload speeds of 3.45Mb.

O2 Mobile Buyers Guide

Can I get O2 mobile broadband?

You should be able to access mobile data almost anywhere there's an O2 mobile phone signal, however broadband speeds will depend on whether there's 3G or 4G coverage.

O2 provides a coverage checker which should allow you to view 4G, 3G and 2G data coverage strength for any postcode and its surrounding area using a map. The map is colour coded to show you whether coverage is good inside buildings or whether you have to be outside to sustain a strong connection.

As you move between different types of coverage area, your connection should automatically switch to the fastest available protocol.

30 day Happiness Guarantee

If you're still not sure whether you'll have good signal everywhere you need it, O2's 30 day Happiness Guarantee should give you peace of mind that you're not tying yourself into a contract you can't use.

One of the biggest worries for most purchasers of mobile broadband is how good the quality of service will be for them (as the speed and reliability depends upon the quality of the mobile signal where you use it). So to combat this worry O2 have a 30 day Happiness Guarantee. This guarantee means that if you purchase directly from O2 (following the links from this site to O2 counts as a purchase direct from O2) you will have a 30 day period in which to try the service out. If for whatever reason you do not find it satisfactory you can return the hardware and get a full refund of any purchase costs and have your contract terminated. This means you can try the service without being worried about getting locked into a long contract.

Free WiFi access

As well as mobile broadband access all O2 contracts come with free access to O2 Wifi hotspots in thousands of locations.

Once you're signed up you connect automatically when hotspots are in range. The free O2 Wifi app, or the O2 Wifi website helps you to locate hotspots. Partnerships with businesses such as All Bar One, Cafe Rouge, Costa, Debenhams, Subway and McDonalds mean that there's usually hotspot locations on every highstreet and in many other locations.

You must be over 18 to accept the O2 Wifi terms and conditions.

O2 Priority

An attractive perk of O2 mobile broadband is access to O2 Priority, giving priority access to gig and sports tickets, offers, one-off experiences and top 40 music tracks. All exclusive to O2 customers.

Priority Tickets gives you access to many gigs by blockbuster bands, artists and comedians up to 48 hours in advance.

Priority Moments allows you to get offers and experiences near you thanks to partnerships with top brands such as ODEON, Harvey Nichols, Zizzi and WHSmith.

O2 Tracks gives you free streaming access to all tracks in the official top 40 chart, all via a free app on Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone.

Overseas roaming

If you plan to use the service abroad then the standard charges are 46p per MB in the EU and £6 per MB outside of the EU.

Data roaming charges are capped at £40 per month. A 200MB montly data abroad bolt on is available for £120, for use in countries outside the EU.

There is currently no provision for 4G data roaming. Overseas use will be limited to 3G or 2G data transfers.

4G Ready

In order to access 4G once it's available, you'll need a 4G enabled device. O2 sell 4G compatible hardware as '4G Ready', be aware that not all dongles and portable hotspots sold will support 4G speeds.